Dementia may take several forms including static dementia, Alzheimer's-type dementia, senile dementia, presenile dementia and progressive dementia. One of the common pathological features of several types of dementia is the lack of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine. This has led to the development of acetylcholine esterase inhibitors for use in the treatment of dementia's such as the compound tacrine.
Recently, compounds that in addition to inhibiting acetylcholine esterase, have inhibitory activity against monoamine oxidase type A (MAO-A) have been developed. The perceived benefit of having the anti-MAO-A activity is stated to be an anti-depressant effect (European Patent Applications Publication Nos. 614,888 and 664,291) Fink et al., (Bioorg & Med Chem Letts (1996) 6 625-630) also disclose compounds having both acetylcholine esterase and monoamine oxidase inhibitory moieties.
International Patent Application Publication No. WO96/02524 relates to alkylamino substituted phenylcarbamate derivatives having acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activity and their use in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.